Standard NATO symbol for an infantry division. The Xs do not replace the division's number; instead, the two Xs represent a division (one would denote a brigade; three, a corps).

A division is a large military unit or formation, usually consisting of between 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers. Infantry divisions during the World Wars ranged between 8,000 and 30,000 in nominal strength.

In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades; in turn, several divisions typically make up a corps. Historically, the division has been the default combined arms unit capable of independent operations. Smaller combined arms units, such as the American Regimental combat team (RCT) during World War II, were used when conditions favored them; in recent times, Modern Western militaries have begun adopting the smaller Brigade combat team (similar to the RCT) as the default combined arms unit, with the Division they belong to being less important.

While the focus of this article is on army divisions, in naval usage division has a completely different meaning, referring to either an administrative/functional sub-unit of a department (e.g., fire control division of the weapons department) aboard naval and coast guard ships, shore commands, and in naval aviation units (including navy, marine corps, and coast guard aviation), to a sub-unit of several ships within a flotilla or squadron, or to two or three sections of aircraft operating under a designated division leader.

In administrative/functional sub-unit usage unit size varies widely, though typically divisions number far less than 100 people and are roughly equivalent in function and organizational hierarchy/command relationship to a platoon or flight.

It made the armies more flexible and easy to maneuver, and it also made the large army of the revolution manageable. Under Napoleon, the divisions were grouped together into corps, because of their increasing size. Napoleon's military success spread the divisional and corps system all over Europe; by the end of the Napoleonic Wars, all armies in Europe had adopted it.

The divisional system reached its numerical height during the Second World War, the Soviet Union's Red Army consisted of more than a thousand divisional-size units at any one time, and the total number of rifle divisions raised during the Great Patriotic War is estimated at 2,000. Nazi Germany had hundreds of numbered and/or named divisions, while the United States employed 91 divisions, two of which were disbanded during the war.

One notable change to divisional structures during the war was the shift from square divisions (of four infantry regiments) to smaller triangular divisions (of three infantry regiments), this was due to increases in mobility and the need to pare down structures to be as efficient as possible. The triangular division also fitted with the tactic of "two forward, one back", in which two of the division's regiments would be engaging with the enemy with one regiment in reserve.

All divisions in World War II were expected to have their own artillery formations, usually the size of a regiment depending upon the nation. Divisional artillery was occasionally seconded by corps level command to increase firepower in larger engagements.

Regimental combat teams were used by the US during the war as well, whereby attached and/or organic divisional units were parceled out to infantry regiments, creating smaller combined-arms units with their own armor and artillery and support units. These combat teams would still be under divisional command but have some level of autonomy on the battlefield.

Organic units within divisions were units which operated directly under Divisional command and were not normally controlled by the Regiments. These units were mainly support units in nature, and include signal companies, medical battalions, supply trains and administration.

Attached units were smaller units that were placed under Divisional command temporarily for the purpose of completing a particular mission. These units were usually combat units such as tank battalions, tank destroyer battalions and cavalry reconnaissance squadrons.

In modern times, most military forces have standardized their divisional structures, this does not mean that divisions are equal in size or structure from country to country, but divisions have, in most cases, come to comprise units of 10,000 to 20,000 troops with enough organic support to be capable of independent operations. Usually, the direct organization of the division consists of one to four brigades or battle groups of its primary combat arm, along with a brigade or regiment of combat support (usually artillery) and a number of direct-reporting battalions for necessary specialized support tasks, such as intelligence, logistics, reconnaissance, and combat engineers. Most militaries standardize ideal organization strength for each type of division, encapsulated in a Table of Organization and Equipment (TO&E) which specifies exact assignments of units, personnel, and equipment for a division.

The modern division became the primary identifiable combat unit in many militaries during the second half of the 20th century, supplanting the brigade; however, the trend started to reverse since the end of the Cold War. The peak use of the division as the primary combat unit occurred during World War II, when the belligerents deployed over a thousand divisions, with technological advances since then, the combat power of each division has increased.

The last major conventional war that saw divisions in a prime role was the 1991 Gulf War, which saw divisions operating in a corps structure and which reflected the organizational doctrines of the recently ended Cold War. By contrast, the Invasion of Iraq in 2003 involved only a handful of divisions but significant support forces and modular Brigade Combat Teams.

Divisions are often formed to organize units of a particular type together with appropriate support units to allow independent operations; in more recent times, divisions have mainly been organized as combined arms units with subordinate units representing various combat arms. In this case, the division often retains the name of a more specialized division, and may still be tasked with a primary role suited to that specialization.

For most nations, cavalry was deployed in smaller units and was not therefore organized into divisions, but for larger militaries, such as that of the British Empire, United States, First French Empire, France, German Empire, Nazi Germany, Russian Empire, Empire of Japan, Second Polish Republic and Soviet Union, a number of cavalry divisions were formed. They were most often similar to the nations' infantry divisions in structure, although they usually had fewer and lighter support elements, with cavalry brigades or regiments replacing the infantry units, and supporting units, such as artillery and supply, being horse-drawn, for the most part, large cavalry units did not remain after World War II.

While horse cavalry had been found to be obsolete, the concept of cavalry as a fast force capable of missions traditionally fulfilled by horse cavalry made a return to military thinking during the Cold War; in general, two new types of cavalry were developed: air cavalry or airmobile, relying on helicopter mobility, and armored cavalry, based on an autonomous armored formation. The former was pioneered by the 11th Air Assault Division (Test), formed on 1 February 1963 at Fort Benning, Georgia. On 29 June 1965 the division was renamed as the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), before its departure for the Vietnam War.

After the end of the Vietnam War, the 1st Cavalry Division was reorganised and re-equipped with tanks and armored scout vehicles to form armored cavalry.

The development of the tank during World War I prompted some nations to experiment with forming them into division-size units. Many did this the same way as they did cavalry divisions, by merely replacing cavalry with AFVs (including tanks) and motorizing the supporting units, this proved unwieldy in combat, as the units had many tanks but few infantry units. Instead, a more balanced approach was taken by adjusting the number of tank, infantry, artillery, and support units. A panzer division was an armoured division of the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS of Germany during World War II.

Since the end of the war, most armored and infantry divisions have had significant numbers of both tank and infantry units within them, the difference has usually been in the mix of battalions assigned. Additionally, in some militaries, armored divisions would be equipped with the most advanced or powerful tanks.

The US, Britain and Germany experimented during World War II with specialized light infantry divisions capable of being quickly transported by transport aircraft, or dropped into an area by parachute or glider, this required both high quality equipment and training, creating elite units in the process and usually manned by volunteers rather than conscripts.

The Soviet Union developed the concept of the specialized artillery division during the Eastern Front of the Second World War in 1942, although plans were in place since the later stages of the Russian Civil War. Artillery Divisions are usually tasked with providing concentrated firepower support to higher combined arms formations such as Corps, Combatant Commands or Theaters. Such divisions are in use mostly by large armies with large territories to defend and with a large manpower base. Examples include the 34th Artillery Division and 51st Guards Artillery Division, the concept of the Artillery Division is deeply rooted in Soviet military doctrine that relies on treating artillery as a unique combat arm in its own right capable of achieving large-scale mission-based targets using just its own resources and assets. It is a means to concentrate overwhelmingly large massed firepower in a small geographical area to achieve a strategic and overwhelming breaching in the enemy defences.

Divisions are commonly designated by combining an ordinal number and a type name. Nicknames are often assigned or adopted, although these often are not considered an official part of the unit's nomenclature; in some cases, divisional titles lack an ordinal number, often in the case of unique units or units serving as elite or special troops. For clarity in histories and reports, the nation is identified before the number, this also helps in historical studies, but due to the nature of intelligence on the battlefield, division names and assignments are at times obscured. However, the size of the division rarely makes such obfuscation necessary.

In the years leading up to the end of the cold war and beyond, the type names of various divisions became less important, the majority of US Infantry divisions were now mechanized and had significant amounts of tanks and IFVs, becoming defacto armored divisions. US armored divisions had more tanks but less infantry than these infantry divisions. Moreover, the sole cavalry division was structured the same way as an armored division.

With the introduction of modular Brigade Combat Teams (BCT) in modern divisions, the nomenclature type is even less important, since a Division can now be made of up any combination of Light Infantry, Stryker and Armored BCTs, for example, the US 1st Infantry Division currently consists of two armored BCTs along with support troops, with no light infantry units at all. By contrast, the current 1st Armored Division consists of two armored BCTs and a Stryker BCT along with its support troops.

Nevertheless some US division types will retain their mission: The 82nd and 101st airborne divisions have airborne infantry BCTs, while the 10th Mountain Division has only light infantry BCTs.

In the inter-war years, on paper the Australian Army was organised into seven divisions: five infantry (1st through to 5th) and two cavalry, albeit on a reduced manning scale,[5] during World War II, the size of Australia's force was expanded to eventually include 12 infantry divisions: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th. Of these, four – the 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th – were raised as part of the all-volunteer Second Australian Imperial Force, while the others formed part of the Militia, and were maintained through a mixture of volunteers and conscripts. In addition to the infantry divisions, three armoured divisions were formed: 1st, 2nd and 3rd, the Australian divisions were used in various campaigns, ranging from North Africa, Greece, Syria and Lebanon, to the South West Pacific.[6]

Since the end of World War II, the number of divisions has fallen significantly as the Australian Army has concentrated its force generation at brigade level. Three divisions – the 1st, 2nd and 3rd – have existed during this time, but the 3rd Division was disbanded in 1991, and only two divisions currently remain active. The 1st Division is a skeleton organisation that acts as a deployable force headquarters, while the 2nd is a Reserve formation.[7][8]

The 9th Infantry Division was raised on 20 November 1975 in Dhaka as the first division of the Bangladesh Army. Currently, Bangladesh Army has ten infantry divisions under its command, each infantry division consists of one artillery brigade, 3 or 4 infantry brigades/regiments. In addition, few divisions have one armored brigade each, the active infantry divisions are-

The Brazilian Army currently has four army divisions: the 1st Army Division based in Rio de Janeiro and subordinated to the Eastern Military Command, the 2nd Army Division, based in São Paulo and subordinated to the Military Command of the Southeast and 3rd Army Division, based in Santa Maria - RS and the 5th Army Division based in Curitiba - PR, the latter two being linked to the Southern Military Command.

The other military forces of the Brazilian Army are subordinated directly to the area military commands, not having a commanding division; in this case, the employment of these troops is coordinated by the operations coordinating center of the area military commands.

Canada had nominal divisions on paper between the wars, overseeing the Militia (part-time reserve forces), but no active duty divisions, on 1 September 1939, two divisions were raised as part of the Canadian Active Service Force; a Third Division was raised in 1940, followed by a First Canadian (Armoured) Division and Fourth Canadian Division. The First Armoured was renamed the Fifth Canadian (Armoured) Division and the Fourth Division also became an armoured formation, the 1st and 5th Divisions fought in the Mediterranean between 1943 and early 1945; the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Divisions served in Northwest Europe. A Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Division were raised for service in Canada, with one brigade of the Sixth Division going to Kiska in 1943. By 1945, the latter three divisions were disbanded as the threat to North America diminished. A Third Canadian Division (Canadian Army Occupation Force) was raised in 1945 for occupation duty in Germany, organized parallel to the combatant Third Division, and a Sixth Canadian Division (Canadian Army Pacific Force) was undergoing formation and training for the invasion of Japan when the latter country surrendered in September 1945. All five combatant divisions, as well as the CAOF and CAPF, were disbanded by the end of 1946.

A First Canadian Division Headquarters (later renamed simply First Division) was authorized once again in April 1946, but remained dormant until formally disbanded in July 1954. Simultaneously, however, another "Headquarters, First Canadian Infantry Division" was authorized as part of the Canadian Army Active Force (the Regular forces of the Canadian military), in October 1953. This, the first peace-time division in Canadian history, consisted of a brigade in Germany, one in Edmonton and one at Valcartier, this division was disbanded in April 1958.

The First Canadian Division was reactivated in 1988 and served until the 1990s when the headquarters of the division was transformed into the Canadian Forces Joint Headquarters and placed under the control of the Canadian Expeditionary Force Command. The CFJHQ was transformed back into Headquarters, 1st Canadian Division, on 23 June 2010, the unit once more falling under the control of the Canadian Army. The unit is based at Kingston. Canada currently has five divisions under its command.

The People's Liberation Army Ground Force (PLAGF) is the world's largest ground force, currently totaling some 1.6 million personnel, or about 70% of the PLA's total manpower (2.3 million in 2005). The ground forces are divided into five Theater Commands, the regular forces of the ground forces consist of 18 group armies: corps-size combined arms units each with 24,000–50,000 personnel. The group armies contain among them:

25 infantry divisions

28 infantry brigades

9 armored divisions

9 armored brigades

2 artillery divisions

19 artillery brigades

19 antiaircraft artillery/air-defense missile brigades

10 army aviation (helicopter) regiments.

Until 2017 there were three airborne divisions manned by the PLA Air Force (PLAAF),, the PLA Navy (PLAN) has two multi-arm marine brigades.

The NRA Division (Chinese: 整編師,編制師) was a military unit of the Chinese Republic, the original pattern of the infantry Division organization of the early Republic, was a square division. It was formed with two infantry brigades of two infantry regiments of three infantry battalions, an artillery regiment of fifty four guns and eighteen machineguns, a cavalry regiment of twelve squadrons, an engineer battalion of four companies, a transport battalion of four companies, and other minor support units.[9][10]

In the mid-1930s, the Nationalist government with the help of German advisors attempted to modernize their army and intended to form sixty Reorganized Divisions and a number of reserve divisions. Under the strains and losses of the early campaigns of the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Chinese decided in mid-1938 to standardize their Divisions as triangular divisions as part of their effort to simplify the command structure and placed them under Corps, which became the basic tactical units. The remaining scarce artillery and the other support formations were withdrawn from the Division and were held at Corps or Army level or even higher, during the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Chinese Republic mobilized at least 310 Infantry Divisions, 23 Cavalry Divisions, and one Mechanized Division, (the 200th Division).

In the Colombian Army, a division is formed by two or more brigades and is usually commanded by a major general. Today, the Colombian Army has eight active divisions:

1st Division (Santa Marta) – Its jurisdiction covers the Northern Region of Colombia in which there are the departments of Cesar, La Guajira, Magdalena, Sucre, Bolívar and Atlántico.

2nd Division (Bucaramanga) – Its jurisdiction covers the north eastern Colombia in which there are the departments of Norte de Santander, Santander and Arauca.

3rd Division (Popayán) – Its jurisdiction covers the South West of Colombia in which there are the departamntos of Nariño, Valle del Cauca, Cauca, Caldas, Quindio, part of Santander and the southern part of the Chocó.

4th Division (Villavicencio) – Its jurisdiction covers the eastern region of Colombia in which there are the departments of Meta, Guaviare, and part of Vaupés.

5th Division (Bogotá) – Its jurisdiction covers the Central Region of Colombia in which there are the departments of Cundinamarca, Boyaca, Huila and Tolima.

6th Division (Florencia) – Its jurisdiction covers the southern region of Colombia in which there are the departments of Amazonas, Caquetá, Putumayo and southern Vaupés.

7th Division (Medellin) – Its jurisdiction covers the western region of Colombia in which there are the departments of Cordoba, Antioquia, and part of the Chocó.

8th Division (Yopal) – Its jurisdiction covers the northeastern region of Colombia in which there are the departments of Casanare, Arauca, Vichada, Guainía, and the municipalities of Boyaca of Cubará, Pisba, Paya, Labranzagrande and Pajarito.

With 1.13 million soldiers in active service, the Indian Army is the world's second largest. An Indian Army division is intermediate between a corps and a brigade, each division is headed by a General Officer Commanding (GOC) in the rank of Major general. It usually consists of 15,000 combat troops and 8,000 support elements. Currently, the Indian Army has 37 divisions: four RAPIDs (Reorganised Army Plains Infantry Divisions), 18 infantry, 10 mountain, three armoured and two artillery, each division consists of several brigades.

The Indonesian Army has 2 infantry divisions (Indonesian: Divisi) within the Kostrad strategic command which plays a role for strategic defense operations. Aside from the infantry divisions, the Indonesian Army also hosts operational combat units from the territorial commands known as "Kodams", the infantry divisions from Kostrad are:

An Army division in the Pakistan Army is an intermediate between a corps and a brigade, it is the largest striking force in the army. Each division is headed by General Officer Commanding (GOC) in the rank of major general, it usually consists of 15,000 combat troops and 8,000 support elements. Currently, the Pakistani Army has 29 divisions: 20 infantry, two armoured, two mechanized, two air defence, two strategic and one artillery, each division consists of several brigades.

British soldiers from the 1st Armoured Division engage Iraqi Army positions with their 81mm Mortar in Iraq, 26 March 2003.

In the British Army, a division is commanded by a major-general with a WO1 as the Brigade Sergeant Major (BSM) and may consist of three infantry, mechanised and/or armoured brigades and supporting units.

A divisional unit in the United States Army typically consists of 17,000 to 21,000 soldiers, but can grow up to 35 - 40,000 with attached support units during operations, and are commanded by a major general. Two divisions usually form a corps and each division consists of three maneuver brigades, an aviation brigade, an engineer brigade, and division artillery (latter two excluded from divisional structure as of 2007), along with a number of smaller specialized units; in 2014 divisional artillery (DIVARTY) organizations began to re-appear with some fires brigades reorganizing to fill this role.[11]

10th Mountaineers advance on a sniper.

The United States Army currently has ten active divisions and one deployable division headquarters (7th Infantry Division):

The United States Marine Corps has a further three active divisions and one reserve division, they consist of a headquarters battalion, two or three infantry regiments, an artillery regiment, and a reconnaissance battalion. Additionally, all Marine divisions (MARDIV), except 3rd MARDIV, have an assault amphibian (AA) battalion, a tank battalion, a light armored reconnaissance (LAR) battalion (two in 1st MARDIV), and a combat engineer (CE) battalion (two in 1st MARDIV). (3rd MARDIV has a combat assault battalion including one company each of AA, LAR, and CE. Tank support for 3rd MARDIV can be provided by tanks deployed with the 31st MEU or directly from one of the three divisional tank battalions under the Unit Deployment Program.)

Japan Ground Self-Defense Force divisions are combined arms units with infantry, armored, and artillery units, combat support units and logistical support units. They are regionally independent and permanent entities, the divisions strength varies from 6,000 to 9,000 personnel. The division commander is a Lieutenant general positions.

Republic of Korea Army divisions are major tactical formations led by and general officers. There are currently 39 Army and 2 Marine Divisions. Of the 41 Army divisions, 6 are Mechanized Infantry Divisions (Combined Arms formations centered around tanks, IFVs, APCs, and SPGs) 16 are Infantry Divisions (motorized divisions with various levels of mechanization) 12 are Homeland Infantry Divisions (향토보병사단, Infantry divisions kept at a 40-50% manpower level, to be reinforced during national emergencies) and 7 Reserve Infantry Divisions (동원보병사단, Infantry Divisions kept at 10-20% manpower level, to be reinforced during national emergencies.) There are 2 marine divisions organized similarly to their American counteparts. Though similarly formed, the 1st ROK Marine Division is specialized to perform amphibious landing operations while the 2nd ROK Marine Division performs more security operations and mans a sector of the DMZ facing the North Korean border.

Republic of Korea Army divisions are typically smaller than their foreign counterparts. Mechanized Infantry Divisions are fully formed at around 9,900, Infantry Divisions are fully formed at about 11,500 men, and other types of divisions are smaller in size during normal operations according to their reserve manpower levels. There are very few articles discussing ROK Marine Corps tactical organization, but an active duty force of 29,000 is divided into 2 divisions, 2 brigades, and its supporting units.

Mechanized Infantry, Infantry, Homeland Infantry, and Marine Divisions are led by Major Generals, while Reserve Infantry Divisions are led by Brigadier Generals.

In the Soviet Armed Forces, a division (Russian: diviziya) may have referred to a formation in any of the Armed Services, and included subunits appropriate to the service such as regiments and battalions, squadrons or naval vessels. Almost all divisions irrespective of the service had the 3+1+1 structure of major sub-units, which were usually regiments.

There is also a similarly sounding unit of military organization in Russian military terminology, called divizion. A divizion is used to refer to an artillery battalion, a specific part of a ship's crew (korabel'nyy divizion, 'ship battalion'), or a group of naval vessels (divizion korabley).

In Imperial Russia, infantry formations were designated as (Russian: pekhoty); in English, "infantry". But on 11 October 1918 all such formations in the new Red Army were re-designated as "rifle" (Russian: strelkovaya). This was deliberately chosen as a means of breaking with the Imperial past, while also giving these troops a sense of being an elite; in the Imperial Army the riflemen had been the best of the foot soldiers outside the Guards.[12] The new designation also hearkened back to the Streltsy of the 16th to early 18th Centuries, which were also elite troops.

Before the Second World War, besides the Mechanised Corps, there were independent tank battalions within rifle divisions, these were meant to reinforce rifle units for the purpose of breaching enemy defences. They had to act in cooperation with the infantry without breaking away from it and were called tanks for immediate infantry support (Russian: tanki neposredstvennoy podderzhki pekhoty).

After 1945, some Red Army rifle divisions were converted to Mechanised Divisions, from 1957, all rifle and mechanised divisions became Motorised Rifle Divisions (MRDs). These divisions usually had approximately 12,000 soldiers organized into three motor rifle regiments, a tank regiment, an artillery regiment, an air defense regiment, surface-to-surface missile and antitank battalions, and supporting chemical, engineer, signal, reconnaissance, and rear services companies.[13] A typical tank division had some 10,000 soldiers organized into three tank regiments and one motorized rifle regiment, all other sub-units being same as the MRD.[14]

A typical Soviet Frontal Aviation Division consisted of three air regiments, a transport squadron, and associated maintenance units, the number of aircraft within a regiment varied. Fighter and fighter-bomber regiments were usually equipped with about 40 aircraft (36 of the primary unit type and a few utility and spares), while bomber regiments typically consisted of 32 aircraft. Divisions were typically commanded by Colonels or Major Generals, or Colonels or Major Generals of Aviation in the Air Force. Soviet Naval Aviation and the Strategic Missile Forces divisions had either Colonels or Major Generals as commanding officers while the Ship Divisions were led by Captains 1st Rank or Captains 2nd Rank.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russian tank and motorized-rifle divisions were reduced to near-cadre state, many being designated Bases for Storage of Weapons and Equipment (Russian acronym BKhVT), these bases, or "cadre" divisions, were equipped with all the heavy armaments of a full-strength motor-rifle or tank division, while having only skeleton personnel strength, as low as 500 personnel. The officers and men of a cadre division focus primarily on maintaining the equipment in working condition, during wartime mobilization, such a division would be beefed up to full manpower strength; however, in peacetime, a cadre division is unfit for any combat.

^Note that during the Soviet era, 25 different MRD staffing and equipage tables existed to reflect different requirements of divisions stationed in different parts of the Soviet Union, the Warsaw Pact countries and Mongolia

^Note that during the Soviet era, 15 different TD staffing and equipage tables existed to reflect different requirements of divisions stationed in different parts of the Soviet Union, the Warsaw Pact countries and Mongolia

1.
Military organization
–
Military organization or military organisation is the structuring of the armed forces of a state so as to offer military capability required by the national defense policy. In some countries paramilitary forces are included in an armed forces. Armed forces that are not a part of military or paramilitary organizations, such as insurgent forces, often mimic military organizations, the use of formalized ranks in a hierarchical structure came into widespread use with the Roman Army. These in turn manage Armed Services that themselves command combat, combat support and combat support formations. Within each departmental agency will be found administrative branches responsible for further agency business specialization work, in most countries the armed forces are divided into three or four Armed services, army, navy, and air force. Many countries have a variation on the model of three or four basic Armed Services. Some nations also organize their marines, special forces or strategic missile forces as independent armed services, a nations coast guard may also be an independent military branch of its military, although in many nations the coast guard is a law enforcement or civil agency. A number of countries have no navy, for geographical reasons, most smaller countries have a single organization that encompasses all armed forces employed by the country in question. Third-world armies tend to consist primarily of infantry, while first-world armies tend to have larger units manning expensive equipment and it is worthwhile to make mention of the term joint. In western militaries, a joint force is defined as a unit or formation comprising representation of power from two or more branches of the military. It is common, at least in the European and North American militaries, to refer to the blocks of a military as commands, formations. In a military context, a command is a collection of units and it is not uncommon for a nations services to each consist of their own command, but this does not preclude the existence of commands which are not service-based. A formation is defined by the US Department of Defense as two or more aircraft, ships, or units proceeding together under a commander. The formations only differ in their ability to achieve different scales of application of force to achieve different strategic, operational and tactical goals and it is a composite military organization that includes a mixture of integrated and operationally attached sub-units, and is usually combat-capable. Example of formations include, divisions, brigades, battalions, wings, formation may also refer to tactical formation, the physical arrangement or disposition of troops and weapons. Examples of formation in such usage include, pakfront, panzerkeil, testudo formation, any unit subordinate to another unit is considered its sub-unit or minor unit. It is not uncommon for unit and formation to be used synonymously in the United States, in Commonwealth practice, formation is not used for smaller organizations like battalions which are instead called units, and their constituent platoons or companies are referred to as sub-units. In the Commonwealth, formations are divisions, brigades, etc, different armed forces, and even different branches of service of the armed forces, may use the same name to denote different types of organizations

2.
Commanding officer
–
The commanding officer or, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general, is the officer in command of a military unit. Typically, the officer has ultimate authority over the unit. In this respect, commanding officers have significant responsibilities, duties, in some countries, commanding officers may be of any commissioned rank. The commanding officer is assisted by an executive officer or second-in-command, who handles personnel and day-to-day matters. Larger units may also have staff officers responsible for various responsibilities, in the British Army, Royal Marines, and many other Commonwealth military and paramilitary organisations, the commanding officer of a unit is appointed. Thus the office of CO is an appointment, the appointment commanding officer is exclusive to commanders of major units. It is customary for an officer to hold the rank of lieutenant colonel, and he or she is usually referred to within the unit simply as the Colonel or, more commonly. The Colonel is usually an appointment of a senior officer who oversees the non-operational affairs of a regiment. However, the rank of the appointment holder and the appointment are separate. That is, not all lieutenant colonels are COs, and although most COs are lieutenant colonels, sub-units, that is, company, squadron and battery, and formations do not have a commanding officer. The officer in command of a sub unit holds the appointment officer commanding or OC, higher formations have commanders or a General Officer Commanding. In some cases, independent units smaller than a sub-unit, e. g. a platoon of Military Police that reports directly to a such as a brigade. In these cases, the officer commanding can be a captain or even a lieutenant, appointments such as CO and OC may have specific powers associated with them. For example, they may have powers to promote soldiers or to deal with certain disciplinary offences. The CO of a unit may have the power to sentence an offender to 28 days detention, units smaller than sub-units, i. e. platoons, troops and sections are not specific appointments and officers or NCOs who fill those positions are simply referred to as the commanders/leader. E. g. Platoon Commander, Troop Leader, Section Commander/Leader, in the Royal Air Force, the title of commanding officer is reserved for Station Commanders or commanders of independent units. As with the British Army, the post of a commander of a unit such as an administrative wing. In the Royal Navy, commanding officer is the title of the commander of any ship

3.
Fireteam
–
A fireteam is a small military sub-subunit of infantry designed to optimize bounding overwatch and fire and movement tactical doctrine in combat. Two or three fireteams are organized into a squad or section in coordinated operations, which is led by a squad leader, military theorists consider effective fireteams as essential for modern professional militaries as they serve as a primary group. Fireteams are the second smallest organized unit in the militaries that use it, the concept of the fireteam is based on the need for tactical flexibility in infantry operations. A fireteam is capable of operations as part of a larger unit. These requirements have led to use of the fireteam concept by more professional militaries. It is less useful for armies employing massed infantry formations, or with significant conscription, conscription makes fireteam development difficult, as team members are more effective as they build experience over time working together and building personal bonds. The creation of effective fireteams is seen as essential for creating a professional military as they serve as a primary group. Historically, nations with effective fireteam organization have had better performance from their infantry units in combat than those limited to operations by larger units. In open terrain, up to 500 metres can be covered by an effective team, a team is effective so long as its primary weapon remains operational. Infantry units of the British Army, Royal Marines and RAF Regiment use the fireteam concept, an infantry section of eight men contains two fireteams, Charlie and Delta, each comprising an NCO and three Privates. Team Leader, The NCO will carry an L85A2 rifle with an L17A2 underslung grenade launcher, some units vary with one of the privates carrying the grenade launcher rather than the NCO. Rifleman, One private carries the L85A2 rifle, Automatic Rifleman, One private carries L110A1 light machine gun or L86A2 light support weapon. Designated marksman, One private carries the L129A1 designated marksman rifle, in the Canadian Army fireteam refers to two soldiers paired for fire and movement. Two fireteams form a group and two assault groups form a section of eight soldiers. The French Section is divided into two teams, the Fire Team is based around the section-level automatic rifle or light machine gun. The Shock Team, made up of riflemen armed with grenades or disposable rocket launchers, is the reconnaissance. The teams employ bounding overwatch, with one element covering as the other moves, the team leaders have handheld radios so the elements can stay in contact with each other, as well as with the section leaders backpack radio set. The most common symbol of the modern French junior NCO has been a radio hanging around their neck, the U. S. Army particularly emphasizes the fireteam concept

4.
Lance corporal
–
Lance corporal is a military rank, used by many armed forces worldwide, and also by some police forces and other uniformed organizations. It is below the rank of corporal, and is typically the lowest non-commissioned officer and it can be translated as one who has broken a lance in combat, and is therefore a leader. Lance or lances fournies was also a used in Medieval Europe to denote a unit of soldiers. In Commonwealth forces, a corporal is usually the second in command of a section. Lance corporals are commonly addressed as corporal, with lance jack or half-screw being common colloquialisms for the rank, much like the use of bombardier instead of corporal in artillery units, lance corporals are known as lance-bombardiers in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. The badge of rank is a 1-bar chevron worn on both sleeves or on an epaulette, Lance corporal is the lowest of the non-commissioned officer ranks in the Australian Army and New Zealand Army, falling between private and corporal. It is the appointed rank, and thus demotion is easier than with other ranks. A lance corporal is usually the second in command of a section, there is no equivalent rank within the Royal Australian Air Force or Royal Australian Navy. Second corporal was formerly used in Australia in the same way that it was used in the British Army. The Canadian Forces abolished the Canadian Army rank of corporal on their creation as a unified force in 1968. The rank of trained private equates to OR-3 and wears the single chevron, Lance corporal is the lowest ranking non-commissioned officer in the British Army and Royal Marines, between private and corporal. The badge of rank is a one-bar chevron worn on both sleeves, or on an epaulette on the front of the Combat Soldier 95 dress standard, the Royal Artillery uses the term lance-bombardier instead. The designation chosen man, used during the Napoleonic Wars, was a precursor to the rank, the date of introduction of lance corporals to the British Army is unclear. The first reference to a corporal in the London Gazette is in 1831. However, the first mention of the rank in The Times is in 1819, the first mention in the London Gazette of a lance corporal in the Royal Marines is in 1838. The Royal Engineers and Army Ordnance Corps also used the rank of second corporal. Until 1920, bombardiers in the Royal Artillery were equivalent to second corporals, in the infantry, a lance corporal usually serves as second-in-command of a section and commander of its delta fire team. It is also a commonly held by specialists such as clerks, drivers, signallers, machine-gunners

5.
Corporal
–
Corporal is a military rank in use in some form by many militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. Within NATO, each member nations corresponding military rank of corporal is combined under the NATO-standard rank scale code OR-4, however, there are often differences in how each nation employs Corporals. Some militaries dont have Corporals, but may instead have a Junior Sergeant, in some militaries, the rank of corporal nominally corresponds to commanding a section or squad of soldiers. The lateral promotion is used to make the soldier a non-commissioned officer without changing the soldiers pay, as the Table of Organization & Equipment rank of a fire team leader is sergeant and that of squad leader is staff sergeant. In most countries that derive their military structure from the British military system, the word is derived from the medieval Italian phrase capo corporale. It may also be derived from an appointment as an officers bodyguard, all three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic use two or three ranks of corporal, or cabo. Corporals in the Argentine military are considered suboficiales subalternos, superior only to all ranks of Volunteers, in the Argentine Army, there are two ranks of corporal, junior and senior, Cabo and cabo primero. While the Argentine Navy has three ranks, from junior to senior, Cabo segundo, Cabo primero and cabo principal. The Air Force has the number of corporal ranks as the navy. The rank is used by the Argentine National Gendarmerie and the Argentine Federal Police. Corporal is the second lowest of the officer ranks in the Australian Army. A corporal is usually appointed as a commander, and is in charge of 7-14 soldiers of private rank. They are assisted by a second-in-command, usually a lance-corporal or senior private, a Corporal within Artillery is known as a bombardier. Corporal is also a rank of the Royal Australian Air Force, with the exception Belgian Naval Component, the branches of the Belgian Armed Forces use three ranks of corporal, corporal, master corporal and 1st master corporal. Corporal is equivalent to NATO Rank Code OR-3, whereas master corporal, the rank immediately below corporal is 1st private and the rank directly above 1st master corporal is sergeant. The equivalent of these ranks in the Naval Component are quartermaster, chief quartermaster, Corporal is the first NCO rank of the Army, Navy, Air Force and states military polices. Soldiers who successfully complete the course may be promoted to the rank of corporal should they excel in the course. A corporal in the Brazilian Army will lead the smallest fractions of units as machine gun squads, mortar, Corporal is an Army and Air Force non-commissioned member rank of the Canadian Forces

6.
Squad
–
In military terminology, a squad is a sub-subunit led by a non-commissioned officer that is subordinate to an infantry platoon. In countries following the British Army tradition, this organization is referred to as a section, in most armies, a squad consists of eight to fourteen soldiers, and may be further subdivided into fireteams. During World War 2 the German Wehrmacht infantry squad or Gruppe was mainly a general purpose machine gun based unit, the MG34 or MG42 GPMGs were normally used in the light machine gun role. An infantry Gruppe consisted of ten men, an officer or Unteroffizier squad leader, deputy squad leader. The riflemen carried additional ammunition, hand grenades, explosive charges or a machine gun tripod as required and provided security and covering fire for the machine gun team. Historically, a squad in the US Army was a sub-unit of a section, the smallest tactical sub-unit being the section, which was also known as a half-platoon. Depending upon the period, the squad leader could be a sergeant, a corporal, a lance corporal. In 1891, the US Army officially defined a rifle squad as consisting of seven privates, under the Triangular Division organization plan in 1939 rifle squads were no longer organized into sections. This soldier could serve as a either the squad leaders messenger to the commander or could be used to relay orders to other squad elements. However, the obvious weakness of so large a squad under one NCO rapidly became obvious in light of the pre-war mobilization and was corrected in 1940 when a second NCO was added to the squad. This adjustment raised the squad leader to a sergeant and the assistant squad leader to a corporal, the platoon leader now became a staff sergeant. This squad organization included two men serving as “scout, ” who along with the leader, formed the security element, designated as “Able. ”The second element was a three-man Browning Automatic Rifle team consisting of an automatic rifleman, an assistant automatic rifleman. This element formed the “base of fire” and was designated as “Baker. ”Lastly, there were five riflemen and the assistant squad leader, the BAR man and the senior rifleman of the Charlie element became corporals and de facto team leaders, even though not officially designated as such. After WWII, in 1948, the Army decided to downsize” the rifle squad to an organization, as post-war analysis had shown that the 12-man squad was too large. The five riflemen of the team, now led by the squad leader. In 1951 the pay grades were reversed, with master sergeant becoming E-7 and sergeant first class becoming E-6, so that the leader became a sergeant and the assistant squad leader. In the 1956 the Army began reorganizing into its Pentomic” plan under the ROCID TO&Es, the rifle squad was reorganized into an eleven-man organization with a sergeant as squad leader and two five-man fire teams. Each fire team consisted of a team leader, an automatic rifleman, an assistant automatic rifleman, a grenadier

7.
Section (military unit)
–
A section is a military sub-subunit. It usually consists of six and 20 personnel, and is usually an alternate name for, and equivalent to. As such two or more sections usually make up a platoon or an air force flight. However, in the French Army and in armies based on the French model, under the new structure of the infantry platoon, Australian Army sections are made up of eight men divided into two four-man fireteams. Each fireteam consists of a leader, a marksman with enhanced optics, a grenadier with an M203. Typical fire team structure, At the start of World War I, the Australian Army used a section that consisted of 27 men including the section commander, during World War II, a rifle section comprised ten soldiers with a corporal in command and a lance-corporal as his second-in-command. The corporal used an M1928 Thompson submachine gun, while one of the privates used a Bren gun, the other eight soldiers all used No.1 Mk.3 Lee–Enfield rifles with a bayonet and scabbard. They all carried two or three No.36 Mills bomb grenades, post–World War II, and during the Vietnam War, a rifle section consisted of ten personnel comprising, a command & scout group, a gun group and a rifle group. The British Army section now consists of eight soldiers made up of a Corporal as the section commander, three sections together form a platoon. In conventional warfare, the section is split into two four-man fireteams, commanded by the corporal and lance-corporal respectively. With the switch from.303 to 7. 62mm NATO in the 1950s until the introduction of 5.56 mm calibre weapons in the late 1980s, the section was typically divided into two groups, a rifle group and a gun group. The gun group was commanded by the section 2IC with an L1A1, and comprised the gunner with the GPMG and this organization was abandoned in favour of fireteams when 5.56 mm assault rifles and SAWs were introduced in the late 1980s. These were the L85 IW and the longer-barrelled L86 LSW, the firepower of the team has now been extended by the L110A1 LMG. The LSW is now used as a designated marksmans rifle. Each fire team has two IW, one with a grenade launcher, one LSW and one LMG. An infantry section now consists of, Charlie Fireteam, Corporal, rifleman, armed with an L85A25. 56mm rifle with 40mm underslung grenade launcher. Rifleman, armed with an L110A15. 56mm light machine gun, rifleman, armed with an L129A17. 62x51 mm sharpshooter rifle. Delta Fireteam, Lance Corporal, armed with an L85A25. 56mm rifle, rifleman, armed with an L85A25. 56mm rifle with 40mm underslung grenade launcher

8.
Sergeant
–
Sergeant is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. Its origin is the Latin serviens, one who serves, through the French term sergent, the term sergeant refers to a non-commissioned officer placed above the rank of a corporal and a police officer immediately below a lieutenant. In most armies the rank of sergeant corresponds to command of a squad, in Commonwealth armies, it is a more senior rank, corresponding roughly to a platoon second-in-command. In the United States Army, sergeant is a junior rank corresponding to a four-soldier fireteam leader. More senior non-commissioned ranks are often variations on sergeant, for example staff sergeant, many countries use sergeant rank, whether in English or using a cognate with the same origin in another language. The equivalent rank in Arab armies is raqeeb, meaning overseer or watcher, in medieval European usage, a sergeant was simply any attendant or officer with a protective duty. Any medieval knight or military order of knighthood might have sergeants-at-arms, the etymology of the term is from Anglo-French sergant, serjant servant, valet, court official, soldier, from Middle Latin servientem servant, vassal, soldier. Later, a sergeant was a man of what would now be thought of as the middle class. Sergeants could fight either as heavy to light cavalry, or as well trained professional infantry, most notable medieval mercenaries fell into the sergeant class, such as Flemish crossbowmen and spearmen, who were seen as reliable quality troops. The sergeant class was deemed to be half of a knight in military value. A specific kind of military sergeant was the serjeant-at-arms, one of a body of armed men retained by English lords, the title is now given to an officer in modern legislative bodies who is charged with keeping order during meetings and, if necessary, forcibly removing disruptive members. The responsibilities of a sergeant differ from army to army, there are usually several ranks of sergeant, each corresponding to greater experience and responsibility for the daily lives of the soldiers of larger units. Sergeant is a rank in both the Australian Army and the Royal Australian Air Force, the ranks are equivalent to each other and the Royal Australian Navy rank of petty officer. The Australian Army rank of sergeant is now redundant and is no longer awarded, due to being outside the rank equivalencies. Chief petty officers and flight sergeants are not required to call a warrant officer class two sir in accordance with Australian Defence Force Regulations 1952. The rank of sergeant exists in all Australian police forces and is more senior than a constable or senior constable, New South Wales Police Force, for example, has the additional rank of incremental sergeant. This is a progression, following appointment as a sergeant for seven years. An incremental sergeant rank is less senior than a senior sergeant but is more senior than a sergeant, upon appointment as a sergeant or senior sergeant, the sergeant is given a warrant of appointment under the commissioners hand and seal

9.
Platoon
–
A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two or more squads/sections/patrols. Platoon organization varies depending on the country and the branch, a platoon leader or commander is the officer in command of a platoon. This person is usually a junior officer—a second or first lieutenant or an equivalent rank, the officer is usually assisted by a platoon sergeant. A platoon is typically the smallest military unit led by a commissioned officer, Platoons normally consist of three or four sections or squads. In some armies, platoon is used throughout the branches of the army, in others, such as the British Army and other Commonwealth armies, platoons are associated with the infantry. In a few armies, such as the French Army, a platoon is specifically a cavalry unit, a unit consisting of several platoons is called a company/battery/troop. According to Merriam-Webster, The term was first used in the 17th century to refer to a body of musketeers who fired together in a volley alternately with another platoon. The word came from the 17th-century French peloton, from pelote meaning a small ball, nonetheless it is documented that it took the meaning of a group of soldiers firing a volley together, while a different platoon reloaded. This implies an augmentative intention in the etymology, the modern French word peloton, when not meaning platoon, can refer to the main body of riders in a bicycle race. Pelote itself originally comes from the low Latin pilotta from Latin pila, meaning ball, the platoon was originally a firing unit rather than an organization. The system was said to have been invented by Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden in 1618, in the French Army in the 1670s, a battalion was divided into 18 platoons who were grouped into three firings, each platoon in the firing either actually firing or reloading. The system was used in the British, Austrian, Russian. Each platoon was divided into four sections, each commanded by a corporal, due to a shortage of officers, a non commissioned officer rank of Platoon Sergeant Major was introduced from 1938 to 1940 for experienced non-commissioned officers who were given command of platoons. In the Australian Army, an infantry platoon has thirty-six soldiers organized into three sections and a twelve-man maneuver support section. A lieutenant as platoon commander and a sergeant as platoon sergeant, accompanied by a platoon sig, a section comprises eight soldiers led by a corporal with a lance corporal as second in command. Each section has two fireteams of four men, one led by the corporal and the other by the lance corporal, each fireteam has one soldier with a 7. 62mm Maximi GSMG and the other three armed with Steyr F88 assault rifles. One rifle is equipped with an attached 40mm grenade launcher attachment for the lance corporal, more recently, the designated marksman of an Australian fireteam has been issued the HK417 in Afghanistan and possibly afterwards. The platoon may also have three MAG58 general-purpose machine guns, one M2 Browning heavy machine gun or a Mk 19 grenade launcher at its disposal and this may not be the case for all British Infantry units, since the 51mm mortars are not part of the TOE post-Afghanistan

10.
Second lieutenant
–
Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1b rank. Like the United Kingdom, the rank of second lieutenant replaced the rank of ensign, the rank of second lieutenant was phased out in the Australian Regular Army in 1986. The Canadian Forces adopted the rank insignia of a single gold ring around the service dress uniform cuff for both army and air personnel upon unification in 1968 until the late 2000s. For a time, naval personnel used this rank but reverted to the Royal Canadian Navy rank of acting sub-lieutenant, currently, the Canadian Army insignia for second lieutenant is a pip and the Royal Canadian Air Force insignia for lieutenant is one thick braid. The equivalent rank for the Royal Canadian Navy is acting sub-lieutenant, also known as an Ensign in the Foot Guards units. The insignia consists of a bar in accordance with the color of the ceremonial uniform buttons. For cavalry or forest rangers, ceremonial dress buttons were silver, as was the horn on the forest commissioned officers képi. The insignia consists of a silver star. Officers holding this rank should be addressed as Kyrie Anthypolochage by their subordinates, in Indonesia, Second lieutenant is known as Letnan Dua which is the most junior ranked officer in the Indonesian Military. Cadets who graduate from the Indonesian Military Academy achieve this rank as young officers, senior Non-commissioned officers promoted to becoming commissioned officers go to the Officers Candidate School in Bandung for achieving the Second Lieutenant rank. The Lieutenant rank has two levels, which are Second lieutenant and First lieutenant, lieutenants in Indonesia usually command a Platoon level of troops and are referred to as Danton abbreviated from Komandan Pleton in Indonesian. Since 1951 in the Israel Defense Forces (סגן-משנה (סגמ segen mishne has been equivalent to a second lieutenant, from 1948 –1951 the corresponding rank was that of a segen, which since 1951 has been equivalent to lieutenant. Segen mishne means junior lieutenant and segen literally translates as assistant, typically it is the rank of a platoon commander. Note that the IDF uses this rank across all three of its services, the equivalent rank in Norway is fenrik. This is the first rank, where they are commanding officer, Fenriks are usually former experienced sergeants but to become a fenrik one has to go through officers training and education. Fenriks fill roles as second in command within a platoon, Fenriks are in some cases executive officers. Most fenriks have finished the War Academy as well, and are fully trained officers, to qualify for the Military Academy, Fenriks are required to do minimum 6 months service in international missions, before or after graduation. The Pakistan Army follows the British pattern of ranks, a second lieutenant is represented by one metal pip on each shoulder in case of khaki uniform and one four quadric printed star on the chest in case of camouflage combat dress

11.
Lieutenant
–
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations armed forces, fire service or police. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different military formations, but is often subdivided into senior and junior ranks, in navies it is often equivalent to the army rank of captain, it may also indicate a particular post rather than a rank. The rank is used in fire services, emergency medical services, security services. Lieutenant may also appear as part of a used in various other organisations with a codified command structure. It often designates someone who is second-in-command, and as such, for example, a lieutenant master is likely to be second-in-command to the master in an organisation using both ranks. Political uses include lieutenant governor in various governments, and Quebec lieutenant in Canadian politics, in the United Kingdom, a lord lieutenant is the sovereigns representative in a county or lieutenancy area, while a deputy lieutenant is one of the lord lieutenants deputies. However, their efforts failed, and the French word is used, along with its many variations. The early history of the pronunciation is unclear, Middle English spellings suggest that the /luː-/ and /lɛf-/ pronunciations may have existed even then. The rare Old French variant spelling luef for Modern French lieu supports the suggestion that a final of the Old French word was in certain environments perceived as an, in Royal Naval tradition—and other English-speaking navies outside the United States—a reduced pronunciation /ləˈtɛnənt/ is used. This is not recognised as current by recent editions of the OED, conventionally, armies and other services or branches which use army-style rank titles have two grades of lieutenant, but a few also use a third, more junior, rank. Where more junior officers were employed as deputies to the lieutenant, they went by names, including second lieutenant, sub-lieutenant, ensign. The senior grade of lieutenant is known as first lieutenant in the United States, and as lieutenant in the United Kingdom, in countries which do not speak English, the rank title usually translates as lieutenant, but may also translate as first lieutenant or senior lieutenant. The Israel Defense Forces rank segen literally translates as deputy, which is equivalent to a lieutenant, there is great variation in the insignia used worldwide. In most English-speaking and Arabic-speaking countries, as well as a number of European and South American nations, an example of an exception is the United States, whose armed forces distinguish their lieutenant ranks with one silver bar for first lieutenant and one gold bar for second lieutenant. Second lieutenant is usually the most junior grade of commissioned officer, in non-English-speaking countries, the equivalent rank title may translate as second lieutenant, lieutenant, sub-lieutenant or junior lieutenant. Non-English terms include alferes, alférez, fänrik, ensign, Leutnant, letnan, poručík, a few non-English-speaking militaries maintain a lower rank, frequently translated as third lieutenant OF1c. The rank title may translate as second lieutenant, junior lieutenant, sub-lieutenant or ensign. Warsaw Pact countries standardised their ranking systems on the Soviet system, some of the former Soviet and Warsaw Pact nations have now discarded the third rank while many retain it like Bulgaria

12.
Company (military unit)
–
A company is a military unit, typically consisting of 80–250 soldiers and usually commanded by a major or a captain. Most companies are formed of three to six platoons, although the number may vary by country, unit type. Usually several companies are grouped as a battalion or regiment, the latter of which is formed by several battalions. Occasionally, independent or separate companies are organized for special purposes and these companies are not organic to a battalion or regiment, but rather report directly to a higher level organization such as a Marine Expeditionary Force headquarters. The modern military company became popularized during the reorganization of the Swedish Army in 1631 under King Gustav II Adolph, for administrative purposes, the infantry was divided into companies consisting of 150 men, grouped into regiments of eight companies. Tactically, the companies were organized into battalions and grouped with cavalry troops. From ancient times, some armies have used a base administrative. Furthermore, recent studies have indicated that humans are best able to maintain stable relationships in a group numbering between 100-250 members, with 150 members being the common number. The advent of accurate, long-range rifle fire, repeating rifles and this, coupled with the advent of radio communication, permitted relatively small numbers of men to have much greater firepower and combat effectiveness than previously possible. Companies, however, continue to remain within the range of 100-250 members, perhaps validating the premise that men fight best in organizations of around 150 members. These companies were not organic to any intermediate headquarters, but rather reported directly to the division headquarters, rifle companies consist of three platoons and a company headquarters. Until after the Second World War, the Royal Engineers and Royal Signals had both squadrons and companies depending on whether the units were supporting mounted or foot formations. The British Army infantry normally identifies its rifle companies by letter within a battalion, usually with the addition of a headquarters company and a support/heavy weapons company. Some units name their companies after regimental battle honours, this is commonly the case for composite units, for example the London Regiment with its Somme, Messines and Cambrai companies. The foot guards regiments use traditional names for some of their companies, for example Queens Company, Left Flank, Royal Marines companies are designated by a letter that is unique across the corps, not just within their command. The Intelligence Corps, Royal Army Medical Corps, Royal Military Police, the defunct Royal Army Service Corps, Royal Pioneer Corps and Royal Army Ordnance Corps had companies, the Royal Corps of Transport had squadrons. British companies are commanded by a major, the officer commanding. The Honourable Artillery Company is in fact a regiment, not a company, in terms of organisation, canadian Army organisation is modelled after the British

13.
Captain (armed forces)
–
The army rank of captain is a commissioned officer rank historically corresponding to the command of a company of soldiers. The rank is used by some air forces and marine forces. Today, a captain is typically either the commander or second-in-command of a company or artillery battery, in the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army, a captain may also command a company, or be the second-in-command of a battalion. In NATO countries, the rank of captain is described by the code OF-2 and is one rank above an OF-1, the rank of captain is generally considered to be the highest rank a soldier can achieve while remaining in the field. The rank of captain should not be confused with the rank of captain or with the British-influenced air force rank of group captain. The term ultimately goes back to Late Latin capitaneus meaning chief, prominent, in Middle English adopted as capitayn in the 14th century, the military rank of captain was in use from the 1560s, referring to an officer who commands a company. The naval sense, an officer who commands a man-of-war, is earlier, from the 1550s. He would in turn receive money from another nobleman to serve as his lieutenant, the funding to provide for the troops came from the monarch or his government, the captain had to be responsible for it. If he was not, or was otherwise court-martialed, he would be dismissed, otherwise, the only pension for the captain was selling the right to another nobleman when he was ready to retire. In most countries, the air force is the junior service, many, such as the United States Air Force, use a rank structure and insignia similar to those of the army. However, the United Kingdoms Royal Air Force, many other Commonwealth air forces, a group captain is OF-5 and was derived from the naval rank of captain. In the unified system of the Canadian Forces, the air force rank titles are pearl grey, a variety of images illustrative of different forces insignia for captain are shown below, Captain Captain Senior captain Staff captain

14.
Major
–
Major is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicators, major is one rank senior to that of an army captain and it is considered the most junior of the field officer ranks. Majors are typically assigned as specialised executive or operations officers for battalion-sized units of 300 to 1,200 soldiers, in some militaries, notably France and Ireland, the rank of major is referred to as commandant, while in others it is known as captain-major. The rank of major is used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures, such as the Pennsylvania State Police, New York State Police, New Jersey State Police. As a police rank, major roughly corresponds to the UK rank of superintendent, the term major can also be used with a hyphen to denote the leader of a military band such as in pipe-major or drum-major. Historically, the rank designation develops in English in the 1640s, taken from French majeur, in turn a shortening of sergent-majeur, which at the time designated a higher rank than at present

15.
Battalion
–
A battalion is a military unit. The use of the term varies by nationality and branch of service. Typically a battalion consists of 300 to 800 soldiers and is divided into a number of companies, a battalion is typically commanded by a lieutenant colonel. In some countries the word battalion is associated with the infantry, the term was first used in Italian as battaglione no later than the 16th century. It derived from the Italian word for battle, battaglia, the first use of battalion in English was in the 1580s, and the first use to mean part of a regiment is from 1708. The battalion must, of course, have a source of re-supply to enable it to sustain operations for more than a few days, the battalion is usually part of a regiment, brigade, or group, depending on the organizational model used by that service. The bulk of a battalions companies are often homogeneous with respect to type, a battalion includes a headquarters company and some sort of combat service support, typically organized within a combat support company. The term battalion is used in the British Army Infantry and some including the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. It was formerly used in the Royal Engineers, and was used in the now defunct Royal Army Ordnance Corps. Other corps usually use the term regiment instead, an infantry battalion is numbered ordinarily within its regiment. It normally has a company, support company, and three rifle companies. Each company is commanded by a major, the officer commanding, the HQ company contains signals, quartermaster, catering, intelligence, administration, pay, training, operations and medical elements. The support company usually contains anti-tank, machine gun, mortar, pioneer, mechanised units usually have an attached light aid detachment of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers to perform field repairs on vehicles and equipment. A British battalion in theatre during World War II had around 845 men in it, and, as of 2012, with successive rounds of cutbacks after the war, many infantry regiments were reduced to a single battalion. A battalion group or battlegroup consists of a battalion or armoured regiment with sub-units detached from other military units acting under the command of the battalion commander. In the Canadian Forces, most battalions are reserve units of between 100–200 soldiers that include an operationally ready, field-deployable component of approximately a half-company apiece, the nine regular force infantry battalions each contain three or four rifle companies and one or two support companies. Canadian battalions are generally commanded by lieutenant-colonels, though smaller reserve battalions may be commanded by majors, with the Dutch artillery units, the equivalent of a battalion is called an afdeling. Combat companies consist of infantry, combat engineers, or tanks, in the latter case, the unit is called an eskadron, which translates roughly to squadron

16.
Cohort (military unit)
–
A cohort was the standard tactical unit of a Roman legion and was composed of 360 soldiers. A Cohort is considered to be the equivalent of a military battalion. The Cohort unit replaced the system following the reforms traditionally attributed to Gaius Marius in 107 BC. Until the middle of the first century AD,10 cohorts made up a Roman Legion, during the 1st century AD, the command structure and make-up of the legions was formally laid down, in a form that would endure for centuries. The first cohort was now made up of five double-strength centuries totalling 800 men and this century was known as the primus pilii, and its centurion was known as the primus pilus. The Primus Pilus could be promoted to Praefectus Castrorum, or Camp Prefect, the Praefectus Castrorum would be in charge of the daily running of a legion. The other cohort consisted of approximately 480 men in six centuriae of 80 men, at various times prior to the reforms, a century might have meant a unit of 60 to 80. The cohort had no permanent commander, it is assumed that in combat, in order of seniority, the six centurions were titled hastatus posterior, hastatus prior, princeps posterior, princeps prior, pilus posterior and pilus prior. The legion at this time numbered about 5,400 men, including officers, engineers, auxiliary cohorts could be quinquagenaria or milliaria. The term was first used to refer to the bodyguard of a general during the Republic, later, cohors togata was a unit of the Praetorian guard in civilian dress tasked with duties within the pomerium. Cohortes urbanae, urban cohort, military police unit patrolling in the capital, cohortes vigilum, watchmen, unit of the police force which also was the fire brigade in the capital. Cohors Germanorum, the unit of Germani custodes corporis, furthermore, the Latin word cohors was used in a looser way to describe a rather large company of people. Auxiliaries List of Roman auxiliary regiments

17.
Regiment
–
A regiment is a military unit. Their role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, in Medieval Europe, the term regiment denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscripted in one geographical area, by a leader who was often also the feudal lord of the soldiers. By the 17th century, a regiment was usually about a thousand personnel. In many armies, the first role has been assumed by independent battalions, battlegroups, task forces, brigades and other, similarly-sized operational units. By the beginning of the 18th century, regiments in most European continental armies had evolved into permanent units with distinctive titles and uniforms, when at full strength, an infantry regiment normally comprised two field battalions of about 800 men each or 8–10 companies. In some armies, an independent regiment with fewer companies was labelled a demi-regiment, a cavalry regiment numbered 600 to 900 troopers, making up a single entity. With the widespread adoption of conscription in European armies during the nineteenth century, the regimental system underwent modification. Prior to World War I, a regiment in the French, German, Russian. As far as possible, the battalions would be garrisoned in the same military district, so that the regiment could be mobilized. A cavalry regiment by contrast made up an entity of up to 1,000 troopers. Usually, the regiment is responsible for recruiting and administering all of a military career. Depending upon the country, regiments can be either combat units or administrative units or both and this is often contrasted to the continental system adopted by many armies. Generally, divisions are garrisoned together and share the same installations, thus, in divisional administration, soldiers and officers are transferred in and out of divisions as required. Some regiments recruited from specific areas, and usually incorporated the place name into the regimental name. In other cases, regiments would recruit from an age group within a nation. In other cases, new regiments were raised for new functions within an army, e. g. the Fusiliers, the Parachute Regiment, a key aspect of the regimental system is that the regiment or battalion is the fundamental tactical building block. This flows historically from the period, when battalions were widely dispersed and virtually autonomous. For example, a regiment might include different types of battalions of different origins, within the regimental system, soldiers, and usually officers, are always posted to a tactical unit of their own regiment whenever posted to field duty

18.
Brigade
–
A brigade is a major tactical military formation that is typically composed of three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment, two or more brigades may constitute a division. Brigades formed into divisions are usually infantry or armored, in addition to combat units, they may include combat support units or sub-units, such as artillery and engineers, and logistic units or sub-units. Historically, such brigades have sometimes been called brigade-groups, on operations, a brigade may comprise both organic elements and attached elements, including some temporarily attached for a specific task. Brigades may also be specialized and comprise battalions of a branch, for example cavalry, mechanized, armored, artillery, air defence, aviation, engineers. Some brigades are classified as independent or separate and operate independently from the division structure. The typical NATO standard brigade consists of approximately 3,200 to 5,500 troops, however, in Switzerland and Austria, the numbers could go as high as 11,000 troops. The Soviet Union, its forerunners and successors, mostly use regiment instead of brigade, a brigades commander is commonly a major general, brigadier general, brigadier or colonel. In some armies, the commander is rated as a General Officer, the brigade commander has a self-contained headquarters and staff. Some brigades may also have a deputy commander, the headquarters has a nucleus of staff officers and support that can vary in size depending on the type of brigade. On operations, additional specialist elements may be attached, the headquarters will usually have its own communications unit. In some gendarmerie forces, brigades are the organizational unit. The brigade as a military unit came about starting in the 15th century when the British army, as such a field army became larger, the number of subordinate commanders became unmanageable for the officer in general command of said army, usually a major general, to effectively command. In order to streamline command relationships, as well as effect some modicum of control, especially in regard to combined arms operations. The terms origin is found in two French roots, which together, meant roughly those who fight, the so-called brigada was a well-mixed unit, comprising infantry, cavalry and normally also artillery, designated for a special task. The size of such brigada ranged from a company of up to two regiments. The brigada was the forerunner of the battalion task force, battle group. The brigade was improved as a unit by the Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus

19.
Colonel
–
Colonel is a senior military officer rank below the general officer ranks. However, in small military forces, such as those of Iceland or the Vatican. It is also used in police forces and paramilitary organizations. Historically, in the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of a regiment in an army, the rank of colonel is typically above the rank of lieutenant colonel. The rank above colonel is typically called brigadier, brigade general or brigadier general, equivalent naval ranks may be called captain or ship-of-the-line captain. In the Commonwealth air force rank system, the equivalent rank is group captain, the word colonel derives from the same root as the word column and means of a column, and, by implication, commander of a column. The word colonel is therefore linked to the column in a similar way that brigadier is linked to brigade. By the end of the medieval period, a group of companies was referred to as a column of an army. Since the word is believed to derive from sixteenth-century Italian, it was presumably first used by Italian city states in that century. The first use of colonel as a rank in an army was in the French National Legions created by King Francis I by his decree of 1534. Building on the reforms of Louis XIIs decree of 1509. Each colonel commanded a legion with a strength of six thousand men. With the shift from primarily mercenary to primarily national armies in the course of the seventeenth century, the Spanish equivalent rank of coronel was used by the Spanish tercios in the 16th and 17th centuries. Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, nicknamed the Great Captain, divided his armies in coronelías or colonelcies, however, the Spanish word probably derives from a different origin, in that it appears to designate an officer of the crown, rather than an officer of the column. This makes the Spanish word coronel probably cognate with the English word coroner and this regiment, or governance, was to some extent embodied in a contract and set of written rules, also referred to as the colonels regiment or standing regulation. By extension, the group of companies subject to a colonels regiment came to be referred to as his regiment as well, the position, however, was primarily contractual and it became progressively more of a functionless sinecure. By the late 19th century, colonel was a military rank though still held typically by an officer in command of a regiment or equivalent unit. As European military influence expanded throughout the world, the rank of colonel became adopted by every nation

20.
Brigadier general
–
Brigadier general is a senior rank in the armed forces. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of colonel and major general, when appointed to a field command, a brigadier general is typically in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000 troops. In some countries a brigadier general is designated as a one-star general. The rank can be traced back to the militaries of Europe where a general, or simply a brigadier. An alternative rank of general was first used in the French revolutionary armies. Some countries, such as Brazil, Taiwan, and Japan, some of these countries then use the rank of colonel general to make four general-officer ranks. The naval equivalent is usually commodore and this gallery displays Air Force brigadier general insignia if they are different from the Army brigadier general insignia. Note that in many Commonwealth countries, the equivalent air force rank is Air Commodore, the rank of brigadier general is used in the Argentine Air Force. Unlike other armed forces of the World, the rank of general is actually the highest rank in the Air Force. This is due to the use of the rank of brigadier and its derivatives to designate all general officers in the Air Force, brigadier, brigadier-major, and brigadier-general. The rank of general is reserved for the Chief General Staff of the Air Force. The Argentine Army does not use the rank of brigadier-general, instead using brigade general which in turn is the lowest general officer before Divisional General, see also Argentine Army officer rank insignia. When posted elsewhere, the rank would be relinquished and the former rank resumed and this policy prevented an accumulation of high-ranking general officers brought about by the relatively high turnover of brigade commanders. Brigadier general was used as an honorary rank on retirement. The rank insignia was like that of the current major general, as in the United Kingdom, the rank was later replaced by brigadier. Prior to 2001, the Bangladesh Army rank was known as brigadier, in 2001 the Bangladesh Army introduced the rank of brigadier general, however the grade stayed equivalent to brigadier. It is the lowest ranking general officer, between the ranks of Colonel and Major General, Brigadier General is equivalent to commodore of the Bangladesh Navy and air commodore of the Bangladesh Air Force. It is still popularly called brigadier

21.
Major general
–
Major general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the rank of sergeant major general. In the Commonwealth, major general is equivalent to the rank of rear admiral. In some countries, including much of Eastern Europe, major general is the lowest of the officer ranks. In the old Austro-Hungarian Army, the general was called a Generalmajor. Todays Austrian Federal Army still uses the same term, see also Rank insignias of the Austro-Hungarian armed forces General de Brigade is the lowest rank amongst general officers in the Brazilian Army. AGeneral de Brigada wears two-stars as this is the level for general officers in the Brazilian Army. In tha Brazilian Air Force, the two-star, three-star and four-star rank are known as Brigadeiro, Major-Brigadeiro, see Military ranks of Brazil and Brigadier for more information. In the Canadian Armed Forces, the rank of major-general is both a Canadian Army and Royal Canadian Air Force rank equivalent to the Royal Canadian Navys rank of rear-admiral, a major-general is a general officer, the equivalent of a naval flag officer. The major-general rank is senior to the ranks of brigadier-general and commodore, prior to 1968, the Air Force used the rank of air vice-marshal, instead. In the Canadian Army, the insignia is a wide braid on the cuff. It is worn on the straps of the service dress tunic. On the visor of the cap are two rows of gold oak leaves. Major-generals are initially addressed as general and name, as are all general officers, major-generals are normally entitled to staff cars. In the Estonian military, the general rank is called kindralmajor. The Finnish military equivalent is kenraalimajuri in Finnish, and generalmajor in Swedish and Danish, the French equivalent to the rank of major general is général de division. In the French military, major général is not a rank but an appointment conferred on some generals, usually of général de corps darmée rank, the position of major général can be considered the equivalent of a deputy chief of staff. In the French Army, Major General is a position and the general is normally of the rank of corps general

22.
Corps
–
A corps is a military unit usually consisting of several divisions. Some military service branches are also called corps, such as the Military Police Corps, Royal Logistic Corps, Quartermaster Corps, a few civilian organizations use the name corps to imply a similar service level, such as the Peace Corps. In many armies, a corps is a formation composed of two or more divisions, and typically commanded by a lieutenant general. During World War I and World War II, due to the scale of combat. In Western armies with numbered corps, the number is indicated in Roman numerals. II Corps was also formed, with Militia units, to defend south-eastern Australia, sub-corps formations controlled Allied land forces in the remainder of Australia. I Corps headquarters was assigned control of the New Guinea campaign. In early 1945, when I Corps was assigned the task of re-taking Borneo, the Canadian Corps consisted of four Canadian divisions. After the Armistice, the peacetime Canadian militia was organized into corps and divisions. Early in the Second World War, Canadas contribution to the British-French forces fighting the Germans was limited to a single division, after the fall of France in June 1940, a second division moved to England, coming under command of a Canadian corps headquarters. This corps was renamed I Canadian Corps as a corps headquarters was established in the UK. I Canadian Corps eventually fought in Italy, II Canadian Corps in NW Europe, after the formations were disbanded after VE Day, Canada has never subsequently organized a Corps headquarters. The Chinese Republic had 133 Corps during the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Corps became the basic tactical unit of the NRA having strength nearly equivalent to an allied Division. The French Army under Napoleon used corps-sized formations as the first formal combined-arms groupings of divisions with reasonably stable manning, Napoleon first used the Corps dArmée in 1805. The use of the Corps dArmée was an innovation that provided Napoleon with a significant battlefield advantage in the early phases of the Napoleonic Wars. The Corps was designed to be an independent military group containing cavalry, artillery and infantry and this allowed Napoleon to mass the bulk of his forces to effect a penetration into a weak section of enemy lines without risking his own communications or flank. This innovation stimulated other European powers to adopt similar military structures, the Corps has remained an echelon of French Army organization to the modern day. As fixed military formation already in peace-time it was used almost in all European armies after Battle of Ulm in 1805, in Prussia it was introduced by Order of His Majesty from November 5,1816, in order to strengthen the readiness to war

23.
Field army
–
A field army is a military formation in many armed forces, composed of two or more corps and may be subordinate to an army group. Likewise, air armies are equivalent formation within some air forces, a field army is composed of 100,000 to 150,000 troops. Particular field armies are named or numbered to distinguish them from army in the sense of an entire national land military force. In English, the style for naming field armies is word numbers, such as First Army, whereas corps are usually distinguished by Roman numerals. A field army may be given a name in addition to or as an alternative to a numerical name, such as the British Army of the Rhine. The term is derived from the fact that they were commanded by Roman emperors, while the Roman comitatensis is sometimes translated as field army, it may also be translated as the more generic field force or mobile force. In some armed forces, an army is or has been equivalent to a corps-level unit, prior to 1945, this was the case with a gun within the Imperial Japanese Army, for which the formation equivalent in size to a field army was an area army. In the Soviet Red Army and the Soviet Air Forces, an army was subordinate in wartime to a front and it contained at least three to five divisions along with artillery, air defense, reconnaissance and other supporting units. In peacetime, a Soviet army was subordinate to a military district. Modern field armies are large formations which vary significantly between armed forces in size, composition, and scope of responsibility. For instance, within NATO a field army is composed of a headquarters, a battle is influenced at the field army level by transferring divisions and reinforcements from one corps to another to increase the pressure on the enemy at a critical point. NATO armies are controlled by a general or lieutenant general, Military unit Military history List of numbered armies

24.
General officer
–
A general officer is an officer of high rank in the army, and in some nations air forces or marines. The term general is used in two ways, as the title for all grades of general officer and as a specific rank. It originates in the 16th century, as a shortening of captain general, the adjective general had been affixed to officer designations since the late medieval period to indicate relative superiority or an extended jurisdiction. Today, the title of General is known in countries as a four-star rank. However different countries use different systems of stars for senior ranks and it has a NATO code of OF-9 and is the highest rank currently in use in a number of armies. The various grades of general officer are at the top of the rank structure. Lower-ranking officers in military forces are typically known as field officers or field-grade officers. There are two systems of general ranks used worldwide. In addition there is a system, the Arab system of ranks. Variations of one form, the old European system, were used throughout Europe. It is used in the United Kingdom, from which it spread to the Commonwealth. The other is derived from the French Revolution, where ranks are named according to the unit they command. The system used either a general or a colonel general rank. The rank of marshal was used by some countries as the highest rank. Many countries actually used two brigade command ranks, which is why some countries now use two stars as their brigade general insignia, mexico and Argentina still use two brigade command ranks. As a lieutenant outranks a sergeant major, confusion arises because a lieutenant is outranked by a major. Originally the serjeant major was, exclusively, the commander of the infantry, junior only to the captain general, the distinction of serjeant major general only applied after serjeant majors were introduced as a rank of field officer. Serjeant was eventually dropped from both titles, creating the modern rank titles

25.
Army group
–
An army group is a military organization consisting of several field armies, which is self-sufficient for indefinite periods. It is usually responsible for a geographic area. An army group is the largest field organization handled by a single commander—usually a full general or field marshal—and it generally includes between 400,000 and 1,000,000 soldiers. In the Polish Armed Forces and former Soviet Red Army an army group was known as a Front, the equivalent of an army group in the Imperial Japanese Army was a general army. Army groups may be multi-national formations, for example, during World War II, the Southern Group of Armies comprised the U. S. Seventh Army and the French First Army, the 21st Army Group comprised the British Second Army, the Canadian First Army and the US Ninth Army. In U. S. Army usage, the number of a group is expressed in Arabic numerals. The French Army formed a number of groupe darmees during the First World War, the first of these was Army Group North, formed on a provision basis in October 1914. Army Group East and Army Group Centre both followed in 1915 while Army Group Reserve was established in 1917, a Franco-Belgian Army Group Flanders also existed briefly in 1918, under the command of Albert I of Belgium. The German Army formed its first two Heeresgruppen in 1915, to forces on the eastern front. A total of eight army groups would ultimately be raised, four for service on each front, originally the Imperial German army groups were not separate formations, but instead additional responsibilities granted to certain army commanders. Crown Prince Wilhelm for instance, was commander of the 5th Army and Army Group German Crown Prince from August 1915 to November 1916. All eight German army groups were named after their commanders, a Chinese army group was usually equivalent in numbers only to a field army in the terminology of other countries, as the regimental level was sometimes omitted. See Heeresgruppen and Armeegruppen The German Army was organized into army groups, some of these army groups were multinational, containing armies from several Axis countries. For example, Army Group Africa contained both German and Italian corps and these groupings were usually named after the commander of the unit in question, for example Armeegruppe Weichs, part of Army Group B during Operation Blau in 1942. The strength of the Kantōgun peaked at 700,000 personnel in 1941 and it faced and was destroyed by Soviet forces in 1945. Shina Hakengun, the China Expeditionary Army, was formed in Nanjing, in September 1939, at the end of World War II, it consisted of 620,000 personnel in 25 infantry and one armored divisions. Nanpo Gun was the Southern Army, also known as the Southern Expeditionary Army, after the surrender of Japan, the Imperial Japanese Army was dissolved, except for the Dai-Ichi So-Gun, which existed until 30 November 1945 as the 1st Demobilization Headquarters

26.
Front (military formation)
–
A front is a military formation in some countries. Originating in the Russian Empire, it has been used by the Polish Army, the Red Army and Soviet Army and it is roughly equivalent to an army group in the military of most other countries. It varies in size but in general contains three to five armies and it should not be confused with the more general usage of military front, describing a geographic area in wartime. In August 1915, Northwestern Front was split into Northern Front, at the end of 1916 Romanian Front was established, which also included remnants of the Romanian army. In April 1917, Caucasus Front was established by the reorganization of the Caucasus Army, the Soviet fronts were first raised during the Russian Civil War. They were wartime only, in the peacetime the fronts were normally disbanded. Usually a single district formed a front at the start of the hostilities. Some military districts could not form a front, Fronts were also formed during the Polish-Soviet War of 1920. An interesting and important distinction between groups and fronts is that a Soviet front typically had its own army-sized tactical fixed-wing air organization. This air army was subordinated to the front commander. The entire front might report either to the Stavka or to a theatre of military operations, the degree of change in the structure and performance of individual fronts can only be understood when seen in the context of the strategic operations of the Red Army in World War II. Soviet fronts in the European Theatre during the Second World War from 1941 to 1945, Baltic Fronts 1st Baltic Front, 2nd Baltic Front, Formed from Bryansk Front on 10 October 1943. 3rd Baltic Front Bryansk Front - Created 18 December 1941, to take sector between the Western and Southwestern Fronts, reformed from Orel Front 28 March 1943. Renamed 1st Baltic Front Oct-Dec 1943, Karelian Front - formed from Northern Front, along with Leningrad Front, on 23 August 1941. Kursk Front Leningrad Front - formed from Northern Front, along with Karelian Front, composed of Western Fronts 61st Army, Central Fronts 3rd Army, and 15th Air Army. Redesignated Bryansk Front 28 March 1943, Army Group of Primorye Reserve Front - Front of Reserve Armies formed 14 July 1941 Southeastern Front - formed from armies on Stalingrad Fronts left wing,7 August 1942. Redesignated Stalingrad Front 28 September 1942, Southern Front - renamed 4th Ukrainian Front 20 October 1943. Southwestern Front - Formed initially on 22 June 1941, reestablished 22 October 1942 between Don and Voronezh Fronts

27.
Field marshal
–
Field marshal is a very senior military rank, ordinarily senior to the general officer ranks. Usually it is the highest rank in an army, and when it is and it is considered as a five-star rank in modern-day armed forces in many countries. The origin of the dates to the early Middle Ages, originally meaning the keeper of the kings horses. Promotion to the rank of marshal in many countries historically required extraordinary military achievement by a general. However, the rank has also used as a divisional command rank. The traditional attribute distinguishing a field marshal is a baton, the baton nowadays is purely ornamental, and as such may be richly decorated. That said, it is not necessary for the insignia to be a baton, the exact wording of the titles used by field marshals varies, examples include marshal and field marshal general. The air force equivalent in Commonwealth and many Middle Eastern air forces is marshal of the air force. Navies, which usually do not use the nomenclature employed by armies or air forces, use titles such as fleet admiral, Field marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim was a politician in Afghanistan who served as Vice President from June 2002 until December 2004 and from November 2009 until his death. Between September 2001 and December 2004, he served as Defense Minister under the Afghan Transitional Administration. As military commander of the Northern Alliance, Fahim captured the Afghan capital Kabul in the fall of 2001 from the Taliban government, in 2004 President Hamid Karzai provided Fahim the honorary title Marshal and a year later he became member of the House of Elders. He later became a recipient of the Ahmad Shah Baba Medal, Fahim was a member of Afghanistans Tajik ethnic group. He was affiliated with the Jamiat Islami party of Afghanistan, Sir Thomas Blamey was the first and is the only Australian-born field marshal. He was promoted to the rank on the insistence of the Australian prime minister, Sir Robert Menzies, Blamey was, at the time of his promotion, seriously ill and mostly bed-ridden in the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital. He was presented with his marshals baton at a ceremony held in the sunroom at the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital by the Governor-General of Australia. Blameys field marshals baton is on display in the Second World War galleries at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. Currently, the only Australian field marshal is HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, during Imperial rule in China, different dynasty gave different titles to generals. A very similar title is 司馬 in Eastern Han dynasty, which means master of horse

28.
General of the army
–
General of the Army is a military rank used to denote a senior military leader, usually a general in command of a nations army. It may also be the given to a general who commands an army in the field. The rank is considered the equivalent of marshal, field marshal, fleet admiral. The rank is held by the Liberian President and Commander-in-Chief and was first used by Samuel Doe who promoted himself from master sergeant to the rank after seizing control of the nation. The insignia of grade was worn as five stars in a row on the collar, the rank was later worn as a circle of five gold stars on the collar by President Charles Taylor. The senior professional military rank in the Liberian army is now usually a two-star officer

29.
Region
–
In geography, regions are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics, human impact characteristics, and the interaction of humanity and the environment. Apart from the continental regions, there are also hydrospheric and atmospheric regions that cover the oceans. The land and water global regions are divided into subregions geographically bounded by large geological features that influence large-scale ecologies, such as plains and features. As a way of describing spatial areas, the concept of regions is important and widely used among the branches of geography. For example, ecoregion is a used in environmental geography, cultural region in cultural geography, bioregion in biogeography. The field of geography that studies regions themselves is called regional geography, where human geography is concerned, the regions and subregions are described by the discipline of ethnography. A region has its own nature that could not be moved, the first nature is its natural environment. The second nature is its physical elements complex that were built by people in the past, the third nature is its socio-cultural context that could not be replaced by new immigrants. Global regions distinguishable from space, and are clearly distinguished by the two basic terrestrial environments, land and water. However, they have generally recognised as such much earlier by terrestrial cartography because of their impact on human geography. They are divided into largest of land regions, known as continents, there are also significant regions that do not belong to either classification, such as archipelago regions that are littoral regions, or earthquake regions that are defined in geology. Continental regions are based on broad experiences in human history. As such they are conceptual constructs, usually lacking distinct boundaries, oceanic division into maritime regions are used in conjunction with the relationship to the central area of the continent, using directions of the compass. To a large extent, major continental regions are mental constructs created by considering an efficient way to large areas of the continents. For the most part, the images of the world are derived as much from academic studies and they are a matter of collective human knowledge of its own planet and are attempts to better understand their environments. Regional geography is a branch of geography that studies regions of all sizes across the Earth and it has a prevailing descriptive character. The main aim is to understand or define the uniqueness or character of a particular region, attention is paid also to regionalization, which covers the proper techniques of space delimitation into regions. Regional geography is considered as a certain approach to study in geographical sciences

30.
Theater (warfare)
–
In warfare, a theater or theatre is an area or place in which important military events occur or are progressing. A theater can include the entirety of the air space, land, such a clearly defined idea as this is not capable of universal application, it is here used merely to indicate the line of distinction. Theater of operations is a sub-area within a theater of war, the boundary of a TO is defined by the commander who is orchestrating or providing support for specific combat operations within the TO. Theater of operations are divided into strategic directions or military regions depending whether its a war or peace time, the United States Armed Forces split into Unified Combatant Commands that are assigned to a particular theater of military operations. Strategic direction is a group of armies also known as task forces or battlegroups, also in the US Armed Forces the term of strategic is often associated with missile command dropping word missile out of use such as the United States Strategic Command. However it is an important strategic command that could be deployed in any theater of military operations. A strategic command or direction in general essence would combine a number of military formations or operational command. In modern military, a command is better known as a combat command that may be a combination of army groups. In a peacetime due to loss of a strategic direction fronts were transformed into military regions responsible for a section of operations. The Russian term is театр военных действий, teatr voennykh deistvii, abbreviated ТВД, as the armies advanced, both these zones and the areas into which they were divided would shift forward to new geographic areas of control

31.
Six-star rank
–
A six-star rank was a proposed special grade immediately superior to a five-star rank. On 21 January 1955, the US Senate considered a joint resolution To authorize the appointment of General of the Army Douglas MacArthur as General of the Armies of the United States, the proposal was shelved and never took effect. Recently, a few authors have described this proposed rank as a six star rank, george Washington was posthumously promoted to the rank of General of the Armies of the United States in 1976. Although the law did not actually specify the number of stars, some U. S. newspapers and his appointment had been to serve as General and Commander in chief of the Army of the united Colonies. The only officer in the history of the US Military to bear the rank of General of the Armies during his lifetime is General of the Armies John Blackjack Pershing, highest military ranks Design of US army insignia Heraldic origin of the use of five-pointed star

32.
Commander-in-chief
–
A commander-in-chief is the person or body that exercises supreme operational command and control of a nations military forces or significant elements of those forces. In the latter case, the element is those forces within a particular region. Often, a given countrys commander-in-chief need not be or have been an officer or even a veteran. This follows the principle of civilian control of the military, the role of commander-in-chief derives from the Latin, imperator. Imperatores of the Roman Republic and Roman Empire possessed imperium powers, in its modern use, the term first applied to King Charles I of England in 1639. It continued to be used during the English Civil War, a nations head of state usually holds the nominal position of commander-in-chief, even if effective executive power is held by a separate head of government. Governors-general and colonial governors are also often appointed commander-in-chief of the forces within their territory. A commander-in-chief is sometimes referred to as commander, which is sometimes used as a specific term. The term is used for military officers who hold such power and authority, not always through dictatorship. The term is used for officers who hold authority over an individual military branch. According to the Constitution of Albania, The President of the Republic of Albania is the Commander-in-chief of Albanian Armed Forces, the incumbent Commander-in-chief is President Bujar Nishani. The Ministry of Defense is the government department that assists and serves the President in the management of the armed forces, the Minister for Defence and several subordinate ministers exercise this control through the Australian Defence Organisation. The Constitution states, in Article 80, that the President is the Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Armed Forces. e, the cabinet under the chairmanship of the Federal Chancellor, as defined in Article 69. The commander-in-chief is the president, although executive power and responsibility for national defense resides with the prime minister and he retired on 7 April 1972 and relinquished all authority and duties to the President of Bangladesh. Article 142 of the Brazilian Constitution of 1988 states that the Brazilian Armed Forces is under the command of the President of the Republic. The Sultan of Brunei is the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces, the powers of command-in-chief over the Canadian Armed Forces are vested in the Canadian monarch, and are delegated to the Governor General of Canada, who also uses the title Commander-in-Chief. In this capacity, the general is entitled to the uniform of a general/flag officer, with the crest of the office. According to the National Defence Act, the Minister of National Defence is responsible and accountable to parliament for all related to national defence

33.
Aircrew
–
Aircrew, also called flight crew, are personnel who operate an aircraft while in flight. The composition of a flights crew depends on the type of aircraft, plus the duration, in commercial aviation, the aircrew are called flight crew. Historical flightdeck positions include, Captain, the designated as the Pilot-In-Command. First Officer, another pilot who is not the pilot-in-command, and is seated to the right of the captain. Second Officer, a person lower in rank to the First Officer, the rank of Second Officer was traditionally a Flight Engineer, who was often the person who handled the engine controls. In the 21st century second officers on some airlines are pilots who act as relief on long haul flights. Third Officer, a person lower in rank to a Second Officer, largely redundant in the present day. The number of crew members assigned to a flight depends in part on the length of the flight. Flight Engineer, an originally called an Air Mechanic. On older aircraft, typically between the late-1920s and the 1970s, the Flight Engineer was the member responsible for engines, systems. The Flight Engineers position is commonly staffed as a Second Officer, Flight engineers can still be found in the present day, used on airline or air freight operations still flying such older aircraft. The position is typically crewed by a dual-licensed Pilot-Flight Engineer in the present day, the airborne sensor operator is considered a principal flight crew or aircrew member. Navigator, also called Air Navigators or Flight Navigators, modern electronic navigation systems made the navigator redundant by the early 1980s. Aircraft cabin crew members can consist of, Purser or In-flight Service Manager or Cabin Services Director, is responsible for the crew as a team leader. Flight attendant or Cabin Crew, is the member responsible for the safety of passengers. Historically during the era of commercial aviation, the position was staffed by young cabin boys who assisted passengers. Cabin boys were replaced by female nurses, originally called stewardesses, the medical background requirement for the flight attendant position was later dropped. Flight medic, is a specialized paramedic employed on air ambulance aircraft or flights, on non-cargo aircraft, weight and balance tasks are performed by the flight crew

34.
Patrol
–
A patrol is commonly a group of personnel, such as law enforcement officers or military personnel, that are assigned to monitor a specific geographic area. This is also referred to as a beat. The basic task of a patrol is to follow a route with the purpose of investigating some feature of interest or, in the assignment of a fighting patrol, to find. A patrol can also mean a small cavalry or armoured unit, subordinate to a troop or platoon, usually comprising a section or squad of mounted troopers, or two AFVs. A patrol officer is often the first to arrive on the scene of any incident, the patrol officer, as the person who is in the field daily, is often closest to potential crime and may have developed contacts who can provide information. The Philadelphia Foot Patrol Experiment, a randomized control trial conducted by Temple University, has shown that foot patrols reduce crime, with the resources to patrol 60 locations, researchers identified the highest violent crime corners in the city, using data from 2006 to 2008. Officers generally patrolled in pairs with two assigned to each foot patrol. After three months, relative to the areas, violent crime decreased 23%. The privatization of police is explored in James Pastors book The Privatization of Police in America, An Analysis, from French patrouiller from Old French patouiller from patte. Another common term for use of patrol is hall monitor. In Scouting, a patrol is six to eight Scouts under the leadership of one of their number who is appointed Patrol Leader and this is the basic unit of a Scout troop. The Patrol method is a characteristic of Scouting by which it differs from all other organizations

35.
Flight (military unit)
–
A flight is a military unit in an air force, naval air service, or army air corps. It is usually composed of three to six aircraft, with their aircrews and ground staff, or, in the case of a non-flying ground flight, no aircraft, in most usages, multiple flights make up a squadron. The flight is also a unit for intercontinental ballistic missiles. Foreign languages equivalents include escadrille, escuadrilla, esquadrilha and Schwarm, the use of the term flight to describe a collection of aircraft dates back to around 1912. Winston Churchill claimed to have invented the term while he was learning to fly with the Royal Navys embryonic air service. It has also suggested that the term was coined by technical sub-committee of the Committee of Imperial Defence which was examining the British air arrangements around the same time. More recently, however, it has become common for a flight to be led by a squadron leader—a formal rank distinct from a squadron commander—equivalent to a major or naval lieutenant commander. A flight is usually divided into two sections, each containing two to three aircraft, which share ground staff with the section, and are usually commanded by a flight lieutenant. The Royal Navys Fleet Air Arm, the Army Air Corps, in the Fleet Air Arm a flight could be as few as 1 helicopter operating from a smaller ship. An air force ground flight is equivalent to an army platoon and may be commanded by a flight lieutenant, flying officer, pilot officer. A flight is also a unit of guided missiles, such as surface-to-air missiles. The United States Air Force has three types of flights, numbered, alphabetic, and aircraft. A numbered flight is a unit with a base, wing, group, or Numbered Air Force mission, such as training or finance. Numbered flights are uncommon, and are only found in basic training facilities. In USAF flying squadrons, the flight also designates a tactical sub-unit of a squadron consisting of two or three elements, with each element consisting of two or three aircraft. The flight operates under the command of a flight leader. Five of these make up one missile squadron. The Air Force has a total of 45 ICBM missile flights, australian War Memorial,2005, RAAF, Structure

36.
Artillery battery
–
The term is also used in a naval context to describe groups of guns on warships. Historically the term referred to a cluster of cannon in action as a group. Such batteries could be a mixture of cannon, howitzer, or mortar types, a siege could involve many batteries at different sites around the besieged place. The term also came to be used for a group of cannon in a fixed fortification and they were usually organised with between six and 12 ordnance pieces, often including cannon and howitzers. By the late 19th century battery had become standard mostly replacing company or troop, in the 20th century the term was generally used for the company level sub-unit of an artillery branch including field, air-defence, anti-tank and position. 20th-century firing batteries have been equipped with mortars, guns, howitzers, rockets, during the Napoleonic Wars some armies started grouping their batteries into larger administrative and field units. Groups of batteries combined for field combat employment called Grand Batteries by Napoleon, administratively batteries were usually grouped in battalions, regiments or squadrons and these developed into tactical organisations. These were further grouped into regiments, simply group or brigades, to further concentrate fire of individual batteries, from World War I they were grouped into artillery divisions in a few armies. Coastal artillery sometimes had completely different organizational terms based on shore defence sector areas, the rank of a battery commander has also varied, but is usually a lieutenant, captain, or major. The number of guns, howitzers, mortars or launchers in a battery has also varied. In the 19th century four to 12 guns was usual as the number to maneuver into the gun line. By late 19th century the artillery battery was divided into a gun line. The gun line consisted of six guns and 12 ammunition mules, during the American Civil War, artillery batteries often consisted of six field pieces for the Union Army and four for the Confederate States Army, although this varied. Batteries were divided into sections of two guns apiece, each section normally under the command of a lieutenant, the full battery was typically commanded by a captain. Often, particularly as the war progressed, individual batteries were grouped into battalions under a major or colonel of artillery, in the 20th century it varied between four and 12 for field artillery, or even two pieces for very heavy pieces. Other types of such as anti-tank or anti-aircraft have sometimes been larger. Some batteries have been dual-equipped with two different types of gun or mortar, and taking whichever was more appropriate when they deployed for operations, from the late 19th century field artillery batteries started to become more complex organisations. Fixed artillery refers to guns or howitzers on mounts that were anchored in one spot, or on carriages intended to be moved only for the purposes of aiming

37.
Troop
–
A troop is a military sub-subunit, originally a small formation of cavalry, subordinate to a squadron. In many armies a troop is the equivalent element to the section or platoon. Exceptions are the Royal Horse Artillery and the US Cavalry, where troops are subunits that compare to a company or artillery battery. A cavalry soldier of private rank is called a trooper in many Commonwealth armies, a related sense of the term troops refers to members of the military collectively, as in the troops, see Troop. In some countries, like Italy, the cavalry unit is called Squadron. Today, a troop is defined differently in different armed forces, SASR troops are also unusual as they are commanded by a captain—most troop/platoon sized elements are commanded by a lieutenant. In all cases, units which refer to platoon sized elements as troops refer to company-sized elements as squadrons, privates in the RAAC and SASR hold the rank trooper, however this is not the case for any other Corps/units which use the term troops. In the British Army the definition of a troop varies by corps, household Cavalry and Royal Armoured Corps, Three or four armoured fighting vehicles commanded by a subaltern, i. e. effectively the same level element as an infantry platoon. A unit of two to four guns or launchers, or an equivalent headquarters unit, in the Royal Horse Artillery, a troop used to be the equivalent to a battery in other artillery units. The Royal Engineers and Royal Corps of Signals used platoons instead until after World War II, other army corps do not use the term. In the Royal Marines, a troop is the equivalent to an army platoon, in the Canadian Army, a troop is the equivalent of a platoon within the armoured, artillery, engineer, and signals branches. Two to four troops comprise the elements of a squadron. Companies were renamed troops in 1883, in the United States, state police forces are often regionally divided into troops. This usage came about from these organizations modelling themselves on the US Army, for this same reason the state police and highway patrol personnel of most states are known as trooper rather than officer. In Scouting, a troop is a made up of scouts or guides from the same locality under a leader. In the case of Guides, the company is used more often

38.
Squadron (army)
–
A squadron was historically a cavalry subunit, a company sized military formation. The term is used to refer to modern cavalry units but can also be used as a designation for other arms. In some countries, like Italy, the cavalry unit is called Squadron Group. Prior to the revisions in the US Army structure in the 1880s, US Cavalry regiments were divided into companies, the reorganizations converted companies to troops and battalions to squadrons, and made squadrons tactical formations as well as administrative ones. In the British Army and many other Commonwealth armies, a squadron is the Royal Armoured Corps counterpart of a company or artillery battery. A squadron is a sub-unit of a formation, and is usually made up of two or more troops. Squadrons are commonly designated using letters or numbers, in some British Army units it is a tradition for squadrons to also be named after an important historical battle in which the regiment has taken part. For example, the Royal Armoured Corps Training Regiment assigns trainees to Waterloo Squadron, in some special cases, squadrons can also be named after a unique honour which has been bestowed on the unit. The modern French Army is composed of troupes à pied and troupes à cheval, nowadays, the term escadron is used to describe a company of mounted soldiers but, for a long time, a cavalry escadron corresponded to an infantry battalion, both units grouping several companies. The term compagnie has been discontinued and replaced by escadron in cavalry units since 1815, in the mounted arms a captain in charge of an escadron is thus called a chef descadron. However, his superior in the hierarchy has the rank of chef descadrons. After 1815, the army began to write chef descadrons with an s in cavalry units to reflect the fact that this officer who used to be in charge of one squadron was now in charge of several squadrons. In other mounted branches, chef descadron is still spelled without s, the Norwegian army operates with units called eskadroner, typically a company-equivalent unit, generally in armoured cavalry units although not always. The 2nd Battalion, Brigade Nord, has a company-equivalent unit called kavalerieskadronen and it serves as the main reconnaissance unit in the battalion. Like the mechanized units, it wears the distinct khaki-coloured beret of the battalion instead of the normal black for cavalry units. The Armoured Battalion has the majority of its constituents labeled eskadroner, including the Cavalry Squadron, the Armoured Squadron and the Assault Squadrons. It also includes the battalions Support element, the Combat Support Squadron and its members are also referred to as dragoons, reflecting the nature of the unit. The Telemark Battalion also has a number of units labelled eskadroner and this includes the Armoured Squadron, the Cavalry Squadron and the Combat Support Squadron

39.
Wing (military aviation unit)
–
In military aviation, a wing is a unit of command. In most military services, a wing is a relatively large formation of planes. In Commonwealth countries a wing usually comprises three squadrons, with several wings forming a group, each squadron will contain around 20 planes. On its establishment in 1912, the British Royal Flying Corps was intended to be an inter-service, combined force of the British Army and Royal Navy. Given the rivalry existed between the army and navy, new terminology was used, in order to avoid marking the corps out as having an army or navy ethos. While the term wing had been used in the cavalry, its general use predominated. Accordingly, the wing, with its allusion of flight, was chosen as the term of subdivision and the corps was split into a Military Wing. Each wing consisted of a number of squadrons, by 1914, the naval wing had become the Royal Naval Air Service, and gained its independence from the Royal Flying Corps. The Royal Flying Corps was amalgamated with the Royal Naval Air Service in 1918, the RFC usage of wing was maintained in the new service. In most Commonwealth air forces, as well as some others, in these air forces a wing is inferior to a group. Originally all wings were commanded by a wing commander. From World War II onwards, operational flying wings have usually been commanded by group captains, a wing may also be used for non-flying units, such as the infantry forces of the RAF Regiment. Additionally, RAF stations are divided into wings. In 2006, expeditionary air wings were established at the RAFs main operating bases and these expeditionary air wings consist of the deployable elements of the main operating base and other supplementary forces. Expeditionary air wings may be subordinated to an air group. In the British Air Training Corps, a wing consists of a number of squadrons within a geographical area. In this context, a wing is inferior to a region which is made up of six wings, in all, there are 36 Air Training Corps wings in six regions within the United Kingdom, each of which is commanded by a RAFVR wing commander. The size of a wing follows US usage, it varies greatly, in the 1990s, the Canadian Forces Air Command altered the structure of those bases under its control, declaring them to be Wings under the overall control of 1 Canadian Air Division in Winnipeg

A fireteam or fire team is a small military sub-subunit of infantry designed to optimize "bounding overwatch" and "fire …

US Marines on patrol in Afghanistan, 2009.

An example of fire and maneuver in actual combat. Here, during the Battle of Okinawa, a US Marine on the left provides covering fire for the Marine on the right to break cover and move to a different position.